La Voz

As faculty members in women's studies, we would like to ask that everyone at De Anza take a bit of time to reflect on what happened last quarter with our baseball team and do all we can to prevent something like this from happening in the future.

While there is an ongoing investigation, and it is therefore premature to say who was guilty, we do know that something very serious and very terrible happened on March 3. We know that some men had sex with an underage girl as many other men watched and cheered them on. The allegations that the sex was not consensual have not been proven, but in any case the situation is deeply troubling.

No matter what: Our hearts go out to the girl. If it was a case of rape, having one's will violated and one's body used sexually by force is a traumatic experience that has life changing consequences.

And going forward with charges of rape leave a woman extremely vulnerable.

Many people who have commented on the situation have found ways to blame the victim. We heard people asking what the girl was doing at the party and why her parents let her be there. A victim of sexual assault almost always has her own judgment and ethical standards questioned. Women often describe a second "rape" they experience when going through the criminal justice system, dealing with the media, and with other people's opinions in a very public matter.

Any institution that defines masculinity as primarily linked to aggression, muscularity and heterosexual conquest poses a grave danger not only to women, but to the men themselves. Men who "break ranks" with these narrowly defined versions of masculinity do so at great risk of being shunned or provoking outright hostility.

While many athletic teams do excellent work challenging the culture of sexism, and mob behavior that in the past have often been associated with team sports, we are concerned that our athletics department and our campus community can and should do more to bring about gender equity.

We see some cause for optimism in this tragedy. Most powerfully: it as deeply impressive how some members of our women's soccer team acted.

Their courage and compassion deserve real recognition. Also, our campus community, from our athletics department all the way to our president have taken this seriously and have not minimized the situation, blamed the victim or tried to sweep what happened under the rug.

Here at De Anza College we need to make sure we are doing all we can to train our male athletes to respect women, to maintain their ethical integrity, and see themselves as agents in making sure their teammates act in ethical ways when they are together.

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